M-W vs. Grant Barrett on "ginormous"

[Barnhart]

Why then, Ben, is the NEW Oxford crowing?

American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on Thursday, May 19,
2005 at 8:41 AM  wrote:


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: M-W vs. Grant Barrett on "ginormous"
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>On Thu, 19 May 2005 08:19:44 -0400, Barnhart <barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>wrote:
>
>>Yes, indeed, ginormous has been in "a" dictionary since at least 1985!!!!
>>Try _The Barnhart Dictionary Companion_ (vol. 4.1-2).  What's most
>>embarrassing is that the earliest quote is 1977.  How come it took the
>big
>>boys (as Barry might call them) over 25 years to give it entry status?
>>Somebody's been asleep at the switch.  It's a term for Allan Metcalf's
>>list of sleuth terms.
>
>Eric Partridge has you beat by a mile.  It's in his 1948 _Dictionary of
>Forces Slang_, according to OED2.  It's also listed in Wilfred Granville's
>1962 _Dictionary of Sailors' Slang_.
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>